


Days of Future Past

by Something_Like_Space



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: AU, F/M, Republic City, The war never happened, and they didnt meet, but it didnt get anything to do with it, but the city is there, but they are going to, lol, sorry I totally stole the name from x-men, the gaang is older
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:21:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24985270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Something_Like_Space/pseuds/Something_Like_Space
Summary: When he signed, Katara turned her eyes to look at his face. His eyelashes fluttered, and as his grey eyes opened slowly, the first thing he saw was Katara’s ocean blue eyes.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar)
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

_ Dear Malu, _

_ I know this sounds weird but I need to ask you to come to Republic City as soon as possible. I cannot tell you the reason why but I promise to tell you everything once you come here. I am adding the address I would like you to meet me at the end of this letter. Meet me there three days later. One hour after the sunset. Don’t tell anyone. _

_ I need you there. _

_ Please come. _

_ Love, Aang.  _

Malu reads the letter in her hands one last time. The fifth time within two seconds. There is no need to do that, of course. She has already memorized it. Furthermore, it came from a person she trusts very much and signed with the stamp she has come to know so well. She understood what she has to do. Still, there is this uncomfortable feeling in her stomach. As if something is not right, not this time. 

Maybe it is due to the Aang’s request of her presence at the Republic City, out of blue. There is no good reason for him to be here, at all. The last time she has seen her, her friend was trying to master his fire bending in the capital city of the Fire Nation. There was so little time for them to meet and catch up, and of course, the meeting has been a secret. At least they assumed that it was. Though Malu knew very well that Aang’s fire bending master, Jeong Jeong, knew that she was there. Normally, no Avatar is allowed to be disturbed by the outsiders during their training yet Malu and Aang always find a way to see each other during his training, or more precisely Aang’s masters have chosen to ignore them. 

The rare meetings between the two are always refreshing. Malu always feels the absence of her best friend when he is away and Aang could find some time to rest and store some energy to work even harder on his training. That was definitely a huge point for Aang’s trainers, probably the reason why they ignore who Avatar is meeting with. 

Their friendship went far back. The first time they met was the time Aang came to visit the East Air Temple when they were both thirteen. The duo spends all their time together after that during Aang’s stay. Their days passed by flying, playing, and feeding air bison. After that time, their friendship lives on as they continue to see each other. Malu had been there before they learned Aang was the Avatar and she was there when the monks told him he was the Avatar. Now, at nineteen they became inseparable. 

Shaking off her thoughts Malu forced herself to look at the building in front of her. The old building seems like it would collapse if she were to send a little air ball toward its way. She could not understand why Aang asked her to come here. When she has received the letter three days ago, it had been two weeks since she arrived at the East Air Temple. While she was brushing her air bison Yumi she noticed the hawk came floating towards her from the sky. The hawk aligned its wings perfectly, descending softly right in front of Malu. Since that time, she has this feeling in her stomach, one she could not repress anymore now that she is in front of the meeting point. 

_ Something is not right.  _

As she reads Aang’s letter once again she thinks the probability of coming to the wrong place. She knows that is not the case before checking the letter. 

She reads and re-read it, at least twenty times since she first got it, and checks the address multiple times. She has been in Republic City for many occasions before, she and Aang even traveled around the city before his training begun. She knows the city as she knows the back of her hand. There is no way she is mistaken. She is in the right place, at the right time. 

During this time of the year, the Republic City is a little bit cold, and after the sunset, it only gets colder. The rain that has been pouring down all day left puddles on the ground, reflecting the gray sky above. 

Malu takes a deep breath and folds the letter that has been wrinkled all around, putting it to the inside pocket of her orange-red air bender robes. As she takes a step toward the old building she thought what a wise choice she made by leaving Yumi at her staying place. If she were to be there, she would keep grumbling and tugging at Malu’s robes, trying to keep her from going inside. She couldn’t blame her. 

When she arrives at the massive doors of the building she stops. They look odd, renewed. After a short moment of hesitation, she pushes the door open. She tries to calm her erratic heart.  _ It is Aang, _ she thinks,  _ what might happen _ ? 

Behind the doors, what welcomes her is a huge and empty hallway with high ceilinged. In front of her, there are two old staircases, going up spiraling and a huge window in the middle. She could not see through the window since it is covered by dirt and dust. The floor tiles are cracked, some even broken. The chandelier is dangling from the ceiling as if an ominous broken black thing. The only source of the light inside is the torches that have been placed irregularly to the wall. The upstairs is swallowed by the darkness completely. 

“A-ang?” Malu asked to the darkness, uneasy. Heartbeats out of control as she waits for Aang to answer,  _ hopes for it _ . She feels everything will turn out to be okay when she hears his voice. Yet the only sound she could hear in the dark hallway is her own heartbeats. Fear bubbles inside of her stomach and she has to use all of her wills to stay put and not to run away. 

“Aang, are you here? I hope you are because I do not intend to go upstairs. Do you hear-“

“Ah, so you don’t intend to go upstairs. What a shame!” Malu jumps at the sound coming next to her. She finds little time to air bend a protective shield around her as a ball of fire comes flying at her from pitch-blackness. Unfortunately, she was not able to bend the air strong enough. Driven away by the force of the fire her ankle twist on a broken tile. As she is falling, she thinks about the mistake she made. It wasn’t Aang. Aang has never been here. 

_ It is a trap _ . 

As the new fireballs keep coming her way she thinks, once again, what a wise choice she made by not bringing Yumi here. 


	2. Chapter 2

He recognized that he felt sore from lying face down as he tried to raise himself on his left hand. Grunting, he turned his face toward the nightstand. According to green phosphoric numbers in his digital clock, it was five in the morning. The early sun rays were covered up by the thick curtains leaving the room in the pitch black. As he was roaming through his nightstand with his right hand, he let go of his hold on his left one, burying his face to his irresistible pillow once again. 

Finally, his hand bumped into the solid shape of his mobile. Filling up with the desire to shut it down he grasped it hurriedly. He found the button he was looking for by sheer memory, without needing to look. 

His mind was hazy that he didn’t even realize completely what was happening as he pushed the red button, efficiently hanging up on whoever was calling. 

Under normal circumstances, Aang would never have done that. Chances were somebody important calling, somebody that he shouldn’t hang the phone on their faces. As the Avatar his number known by a neatly selected group of people yet it had only been an hour since he got to bed and he wasn’t able to think clearly. He fell asleep within seconds, a bugging half-formed thought that he should have opened the phone in the back of his mind. 

He woke up with panic. In his frenzy, he couldn’t make any sense why his hand was buzzing and it took a second to realize that he was still holding his phone. The buzzing sound turned into a soft melody and now awaken Aang couldn’t help but feel annoyed. The feeling almost instantly left its place to panic. Who would have called him in such an hour?

Looking at the screen, he saw the call is from an unknown number. He entertained the probability of it could have belonged to some of his fans to calm his heartbeats. Trying to ignore the fact that none of his fans had managed to find his number before. He opened the phone. 

“Yes?” his voice sounded hoarse. 

“Am I supposed to talk here?” the sound behind the line said. Even though the voice sounded as if it was coming from far away, Aang couldn’t help but thought it was suspiciously sounded like his master, the one that supposed to be at Republic City to help maintain order. He heard some murmurs next and as he tried to figure things out his master roared to the phone loud enough for him to take the phone away from his ear an inch. 

“Aang?! AANG it’s yOU ISN’T IT?” 

At least his master’s voice didn’t sound like he was calling from his deathbed. Aang found himself a bit relaxed by the thought. Yet since as far as he knew monk Gyatso didn’t even have a phone. If he found one to call him something must have happened. All those thoughts flashed through his mind within seconds and before he even had a chance to open his mouth, his master was talking again. 

“AANG! Can you hear me?” as if it would motive Aang to answer him, he spoke slowly, emphasizing the syllables. 

“Couldn’t he hear me? Are you sure you dialed the right number?” Aang had actually said his master’s name in a form of greeting but Gyatso hadn’t heard him since he gave up on speaking with him and started scolding the monks that gave him the phone. Aang smiled despite the situation. 

“Monk Gyatso! I’m here! What’s goi-“

“AANG! AH, YOU ARE THERE! I WAS TRYING TO REACH YOU!” Aang moaned as he put the phone away once again. It was pretty early and silent already; his master screaming in his ear really didn’t help the matter. 

“Sifu, I’m here. Calm down and please could you lower your voice a little? I could hear you perfectly well.”

“Ah! My apologizes. This is the first time I have ever hold something like that in my hands. To be honest it was quite useful.” Mobile phones weren’t that popular amongst air benders, with a few expectations, Aang included since he was the Avatar and there were times that he needed to get contacted straight away. Aang smiled at his master’s enthusiasm which was shattered down in pieces when he spoke again. 

“Aang, something has happened. You need to come to Republic City. I already spoke with Jeong Jeong. He said you are ready.” Things were happening way too fast for Aang to catch up. His breaths started to get faster. 

“What’s happened? Why Republic City?

“Malu got hurt.” Amongst all the things he was expecting to hear, _what did he expect to hear?_ this was the last thing his mind could come up with. _Malu… but how?_ His best friend’s chestnut hair and mischievous gray eyes looking exactly like his flashed through his mind eye. 

“M- Malu? How could that even possible? Is she okay? Gyatso! Please, tell me she was-“

“Aang! Calm down! She is well, but… she told me she was in Republic City because you asked her to meet here.” Aang’s mind went completely blank as he tried to make sense of Gyatso’s words. He definitely couldn’t remember telling Malu to meet him there, and he shouldn’t have. Because that never had happened, he was sure of it. The other thing he was sure of, on the other hand, was that Malu wouldn’t lie. So the real question was who told her to meet her there in disguise of him? 

“You should come.” Gyatso’s voice was like a whisper comparing to how it had been a few seconds ago. He hung the phone up without a warning, leaving Aang in his darkroom alone. 

* * *

_**2 days later** _

After twelve hours of a long trip, the ship coming from the Southern Water Tribe started approaching the dock of Republic City. Ships that had various colors and sizes were anchored to the harbor. It was easy to see which nation the ships were belonged by looking at the crests exhibited proudly on each ship’s rudder. There were all sorts of ships too, merchant and passenger ships, as well as little fishing boats. 

It was almost noon and the weather was cold for the ones that were living in the city for too long. Katara didn’t even feel it. As someone who was living at the Southern Water Tribe for eighteen years now, she could even consider the weather as warm. She stared at the city beneath the grey clouds. She had been in Northern Water Tribe and Ba Sing Se before, for various reasons, but she was seeing something like this for the first time. The city was big. Massive. The buildings were bent by who knew how many Earth bender helps seemed to be competing with each other to be seen. She held her breath slightly as she was looking at them. 

“Are you happy to be here?” she jumped when she heard Kya’s question. Absorbed in the city view she hadn’t heard her mother coming behind her. Katara smiled a little, her desire to visit Republic City wasn’t a secret amongst her family. Two days ago, when her father had announced that he was expected in the city for a meeting she had been preparing sea prunes for dinner. She’d bounced up and down excitedly asking his father if she could come. Hakoda had laughed at her excitement knowing that he couldn’t tell her no. Of course, his brother had started grumbled immediately, which had caused her to whip him with her infamous water whip. After her mother had gotten to involve trying to separate the siblings the whole family had found themselves in the ship to take them to the Republic City the following night. 

As the ship docked in the harbor, the area separated for the Southern Water Tribe, they got in line to exit. The inpatient crowd emptied the ship quickly but orderly. Katara turned around to take a look at the ship. Three days later, they were supposed to leave with the same one. Since it was a short trip, they had a little suitcase that had all their stuff which was carried around by Sokka. 

“I’m starving.” Sokka started talking as soon as they exited the harbor. He was holding his stomach in the meanwhile. 

“Should we eat Air Nation food?” Katara said, excited. She pointed at the orange signboard of the restaurant. Sokka let out a disgusted grunt. 

“God, Katara! Have you ever paid attention to Air Nation? Have you ever seen any of them eat meat before?”

“So? I’m sure they know how to make a good salad.”

“Be realistic Katara. They are just… herbs. How good they can be?”

Kya and Hakoda glanced at each other briefly as they could sense a bicker was about the start between the siblings. Hakoda pointed out to a red signboard across the street hoping that would distract them both. 

“Maybe we could start with Fire Nation food? Tomorrow we could go to an Air Nation restaurant. That way we could taste food from every nation?” The various meats hanging on the shop window was enough to convince Sokka. Katara looked as though she was going to object but she was open to taste different foods and her father said they would go to an Air Nation restaurant the next day so she closed her mouth and went along. 

Inside was small and crowded, filled with grey wooded tables and accompanied little chairs. The smell of meat was overwhelming. As they found a table for four Sokka had already ordered more meat than he could eat. 

As the day passed by, they kept traveling along the streets. They watched as the streets filled up with night lamps. A magician fire bender gathered up quite a crowd around himself, as he played with fire – literally. He bent the fire in the forms of various animals and sent them up to the sky. The forms exploded like fireworks. An air nomad was playing flute that Katara had never seen alike before. She decided she liked the tunes very much. They bought moon peaches as they went to their hotel. The republic city paid for Hakoda’s room, and travel costs but they had to pay for themselves. 

As Katara was about to step into the hotel she saw a signboard on the street across the hotel. As it was covered by another building the entrance and a large portion of the shop couldn’t be seen yet Katara could still smell the scents radiating from it. Suddenly she remembered her gran gran had asked her if she could buy her some dragon narcissus essence, when she had heard they would be all going to the Republic City. She held her mother’s arm as she was about to enter the hotel. Kya turned to look at her youngest child, confused. 

“Mom, look! A herbalist! I could buy gran gran’s orders from there. I will be right back!” Kya looked hesitated, as she didn’t want her daughter to roam alone in the big city at night. She turned to look at Sokka who was leaning against the desk of the reception with a bored expression on his face. Hakoda turned to look at her,

“Kya, what was the number of our room? I wrote it down to a piece of paper and gave it to you.” 

Katara who sensed her mother’s hesitation fight to urge to roll her eyes. 

“Mom, I’m a trained water bender remember? Besides, I will be just across the street.” Kya looked at her daughter her eyes soften. 

“Okay, but no lingering!”

* * *

She was done within two minutes. The old shopkeeper with white hair and a big stomach had put the essence in a fancy bottle before handed it over to her. It smelt so good that Katara couldn’t take her nose off of the bottle as she exited the shop. She had only taken one-step toward the street when she heard the explosions. 

Her attention was caught immediately. She was looking at a tripartite road, the front was open but the other sides were covered by the buildings. She could only see the reflections of lights of the explosions. As the rumbling voices got near and the light reflections left their places to fireballs she thought it must be another magician show. It didn’t take long to understand she was mistaken. 

A man was scattered to the street. He was wearing classic air nation robes. Katara could see the pale blue tattoos from where she was standing. For a crazy second, she thought the man looked familiar. 

The air bender held his hands up against the fireball coming toward his way. He bent a strong air around him. The fire was deflated, yet new fireballs kept coming toward him. He got away from the first two the same as he did before. He bent down, dodged right and left, and avoided the fireballs without putting much effort. Yet he also kept continuing to fall back as well. Finally, the source of the fireballs came into her vision. A man wearing classic red fire nation robs. Some of his black hair was freed from his ponytail, and he was a lot shorter than the man he was attacking. Yet he was also very fast. He kept bending fire and bent the last one from a lower point. It was so fast that neither Katara nor the air bender saw it was coming. He deflated the fireballs yet the last one hit him in the stomach, hard. 

He reeled, and fall onto his back with a thud. The fire bender kept moving. There was something malicious in his steps, as he got closer to the unconscious air bender on the ground. The flames swallowed up his right hand. He was about to deal the last blow. 

“Aang!” she heard someone, another man, was shouting but she was already running. She ran as fast as she could as she bent some water out of her flask that she carried around everywhere. The water whip caught the fire bender’s arm just in time. The attacker turned to look at her with a shock that was evaporated quickly. He narrowed his eyes and bent a slice of fire toward her way. She needed to let go of his hand as she bent a protective shield around herself. Whatever her attacker had in mind as his next move was interrupted by a river of flame. He quickly got out of the way. She turned to look at the newcomer. He was wearing a different sort of fire nation robes; raven hair all around his face. Katara saw a man lying on the ground behind him, must be some other attacker that he had to deal with earlier. She also saw whomever that man was he now was twitching and trying to get up. 

“Give up, Lu Ten!” The man in front of Katara shouted at the newcomer and attacked him without a warning. The other one Lu Ten knocked down was now in his feet and took his own position to attack. He never got the chance since Katara had seen an ornamental pool behind him when she had first set her sight on him. She poured gallons of water over the man’s head, froze it at the same time. Only his face was not covered by ice. She saw Lu Ten still was fighting the first attacker, but she didn’t stop to help him. She ran at the air bender that was still unconscious on the ground. 

She kneeled beside him, turned his body upwards, and recognized why she thought he seemed familiar before. She had seen his photos on the newspapers multiple times, watched the short video clips of him on the TV, as long as the journalists managed to capture his face with their cameras. The man lying on the ground in front of her was the Avatar, and he had a massive burnt on his stomach. She bent the water out of her flask. 

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” he heard the other ‘ally’, Lu Ten, roared at her between his fight with the man who had attacked the Avatar. Clearly still on edge and not all that trusting strangers after they were attacked. 

“I could heal him!” Katara shouted back, trying to make him understand that she was a healer as much as a fighter. Lu Ten looked at her for a second, evaluating, before he got distracted by the fireballs coming towards him. She put her water covered hands down on Avatar’s stomach, concentrating all her power to heal him. She was afraid of failing since she didn’t pay much attention to healing lessons while she could be a fighter but after a second the water in her hands shined bright and soaked in by Avatar’s wound. It wasn’t perfect, he would still need to see a healer but it would do for now. At least the angry red of his burnt had left its place to a pinkish color. 

When he signed, Katara turned her eyes to look at his face. His eyelashes fluttered, and as his grey eyes opened slowly, the first thing he saw was Katara’s ocean blue eyes. 


End file.
